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DIMAPUR — The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) conducted an event as part of its Uplifting Women Street Vendors Programme (UWSVP), in partnership with Capri Loans, for women street vendors on Monday in Chümoukedima district.
According to an update, the programme commenced at the Chakhesang Hoho Building, with a combined attendance of 50 women from two districts, namely Chümoukedima and Dimapur. It was moderated by Chubatemjen, content writer at tEA, who sensitised the women about the mission and values of tEA, as well as the foundation of UWSVP.
Tekhengutele Nuh, project associate of tEA, briefed the women on cultivating a lifestyle based on financial literacy and digital awareness. She emphasised the numerous benefits of developing saving habits and being tech-savvy to attain financial freedom.
Imtiwapang Longkumer, community mobiliser of tEA, educated the women in his speech on diverse, convenient, and advantageous saving strategies. He shared numerous success stories of vendors and entrepreneurs who have achieved financial liberation through these strategies.
Tsinshe Yimchunger, a street vendor who delivered the keynote address, shared her experiences with the financial linkages provided by tEA and its partners. She spoke about her children's tragic deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her struggles as a street vendor over the years.
Tsinshe described how she lost her home to a gruesome fire on November 13 in Naharbari, where she lost most of her belongings and expressed her gratitude to tEA for the mentorship and opening doors for her to rebuild her life from scratch when she had lost all hope.
During the programme, QR codes were distributed to 23 street vendors.
A similar exercise was also conducted on February 21, where a total of 21 QR codes were distributed to street vendors in Supermarket, Dimapur, with the support of Capri Loans, a diversified non-banking financial company (NBFC) listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE), mentioned the update.
Also, tEA, in collaboration with Capri Loans, conducted such programmes at Wokha town and Pfusteromi village (Phek) on February 23 and 24, respectively. Pfusteromi had 58 women street vendors participating in a short programme, while Wokha had 42 participants who received QR codes upon programme completion.
The Uplifting Women Street Vendors Programme is a flagship programme of tEA, launched in October 2017, aimed at empowering women involved in the network of farm produce marketing. It engages with women street vendors, producers who also sell their yields, and aggregators who link rural products with urban markets.
To date, tEA has trained and worked with 7,000 women street vendors in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh, with plans to expand to other neighbouring states in the upcoming days. tEA aims to impact 10,000 women street vendors under the programme by 2025.